Photodetection and Measurement: Maximizing Performance in Optical Systems [Hardcover]

Mark Johnson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071409440 | ISBN-13: 978-0071409445 | Publication Date: August 1, 2003 | Edition: 1

Photodetection techniques are becoming increasingly necessary for electronics design work This reference provides a practical "rules of thumb" approach to making accurate optical measurements with equipment commonly found in labs and companies. Considers the full chain of equipment: photodetectors, amplifiers, LED sources, electronic drives, basic optics, interference screens, and data acquisition systems How to make use of the simplest detector in every situation Noise reduction techniques Building in stability

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

MAKE OPTICAL MEASUREMENTS WITH MAXIMUM ACCURACY AND MINIMUM COST

The "opto-electronics revolution" has made the art and science of making sensitive, accurate, and inexpensive optical measurements must-know information for legions of electronic engineers and research students. And there’s no faster or easier way to master photodetection and measurement techniques than with this hands-on tutorial written by a teacher with experience enough to know the questions you would ask.

A clear, easy-to-understand "rules-of-thumb" approach shows you how to make high-performance optical measurements by getting the fundamentals right, often with simple, inexpensive equipment commonly found in laboratories. It includes treatment of:
* Photodetectors
* Amplifiers
* LED sources
* Electronic modulation and demodulation
* Interference avoidance
* Data acquisition and basic DSP

You’ll also gain a firm understanding of noise-reduction techniques and the essentials of building-in speed, sensitivity,and stability. If you want to learn the secret of making sound optical measurements without expensive equipment, this is the one resource you shouldn’t work without.

About the Author

Mark Johnson, Ph.D is an independent consultant in opto-electronics and measurement innovation. He is a visiting professor at Salford University in England and St. Etienne University in France and has managed corporate research teams in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany. Dr. Johnson resides in Cheshire, England.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 298 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional; 1 edition (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071409440
• ISBN-13: 978-0071409445
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #800,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding guide to some very tough terrain, October 7, 2003

By 

Philip Hobbs "Phil Hobbs" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Photodetection and Measurement: Maximizing Performance in Optical Systems (Hardcover)

This book will help a lot of people, especially students and young researchers in optics, engineering science, and experimental physics, to stay out of a lot of trouble.
I predict that many students and professors are going to be very grateful to Mark Johnson!

*Photodetection and Measurement* is all about how to make optical measurements work *in real life*. Starting from an elementary level, it takes you from the source, through the optical system, the crucial front end amplifier, the analogue signal processing and digitizing.

I especially liked the "TRY IT!" sections--guided tours that will give you an excellent intuitive and quantitative understanding of how lock-in amplifiers, frequency compensation, fibre coupling, and many other things work. Lab work and simple analytical calculations generate intuition faster than anything.

There's a detailed section on lock-ins, with lots of hands-on stuff to show that they work just like bandpass filters plus downconverters.

My favourite part is the section on turbidity measurements--the author was head of the R&D team at a large water utility for some years, so he knows this stuff cold. He gives many different methods methods of avoiding or compensating for fouling, and of improving accuracy, e.g. rejecting background by modulating the sample absorption using wedge-shaped sample cells. This is typical of the thoroughly practical attitude Johnson displays throughout--it's always the things you haven't thought about that will bite you, and he's usually thought about them.

There are a thousand good tricks here. If you're starting out with a photodiode in one hand, a data acq system in the other, and no idea how to connect the one to the other, this is definitely your book.